As a music fan, you probably have your own genre that you prefer. Your favorite band, your favorite song, or your favorite sound. Everyone that enjoys music has their own preference. However, the well-rounded musician can also appreciate other musical styles and genres.
As a musician, maybe you are thinking about pursuing a career in music. While music may seem like a small industry, or a difficult one, and in part this is true, unless you know already that you are destined to become a rock star, a popular choice is music education. You get all the benefits of becoming a teacher (salary, tenure, summers off, etc.), but you are teaching one of the greatest gifts...music.
However, as a teacher, you must teach music appreciation to your student musicians. Music teachers have very different styles in going about this. Some teachers will teach the basic characteristics of each music genre and decade. For example, Baroque, classical, jazz, Baroque, right up through 50s rock and roll, the 60s “free love” movement, and into Disco and 80s hair bands. While this is all well and good, you always have the luxury of incorporating music through, well, music. You could incorporate old rock and roll songs into choral sections, or write out famous jazz pieces for your students to play, or even let them study and write reports on their favorite musicians and why. The possibilities are endless.
There was a time when I was a diehard musician. Well, I still am, but I used to play ALLL the time. I was constantly attending rehearsals, playing and singing at gigs, competitions, concerts. It was a lot of fun. For fifteen straight years I was heavily involved with music. Now that I’m old, have a family and work full time, I don’t have the capacity to play as much anymore. Although I do attempt to keep my piano skills alive from time to time. Music was my life. When I started college in 2003, I was doing a double major in Spanish and Music. It was really tough and I’m not kidding when I tell you that I took 10 classes each semester...it was a ton of work. Unfortunately, halfway through, due to schedule and financial restraints, I had to choose one major...which was Spanish.
Anyways, my point is in all those years of taking music class after class, I think there was only one real teacher who really taught music appreciation. Don’t get me wrong, from fifth grade right through college, I had a lot of great teachers and professors, but there is only one that comes to mind that I can say I really learned a lot from... and he knows who he is. I find that music teachers like him are hard to come by. He reminded me a lot of Mr. Holland, from Mr. Holland’s Opus. He taught music we could listen to and really get into playing. I mean rock and roll, blues, and genres of the like. I mean, traditional music is great and all, but I find that SO many teachers are very “by the book” and teach traditional music and skip the rock of the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s just because it was so controversial...but you HAVE to teach it. Those decades defined modern music. You can’t ignore it.
All in all, whether you decide to become a teacher, or become a solo artist, a music therapist, or you really become a famous rock star (“because we all just wanna be big rock stars”, right?), music appreciation is key. A well-rounded and intelligent musician should be able to discuss and appreciate music of all forms. It doesn’t mean you actually have to like it, because let’s face it, a lot of music out there is, well, questionable...but you should be able to appreciate it and all its forms.
However, no matter which career you choose, it is no doubt that as a musician and artist, you will incorporate your talent and your love for music and music appreciation in your musical “Journey”.
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